A petition opposing council plans to reduce spending on library books by £325,000 has secured more than 1,500 signatures.

Cambridge residents are campaigning to get Cambridgeshire County Council to abandon the cuts to library funding as part of 2017/2018 budget proposals.

A full council meeting is due to be held on February 14 where campaigners will challenge the council to reinstate funding for books and newspapers.

The campaign has won the support of Cambridge MP, Daniel Zeichner, who believes the "important service must be protected".

The petition against Cambridgeshire County Council plans to cut library funding has reached over 1,500 signatures (Image: Richard Patterson)

He said: "I am pleased to have joined campaigners over the last few months to protest against the cuts to our library services, and today I am adding my support to the County Labour Group’s alternative budget which would reverse the £325,000 cut.

"We all know that reading improves lives. In this era of post truth politics and fake news, we should all be able to visit our local library and pick up a book or magazine and these cuts would severely affect that."

Read More

In November last year campaigners protested outside the Central Library in Cambridge's Grand Arcade to put pressure on county council chiefs to scrap the funding cut plan, due from April 2017.

Professor Nick Gay, a Fellow of Christ's College, will be presenting the residents' petition to the council later this month.

He said: "Our petition has gathered enormous support because of the recognition that walking into a library and reading a book can open up whole new worlds.

"After all, it was reading a library book aged only 10 in Cambridge's Milton Road library that set Sir Andrew Wiles on the path to becoming a world famous mathematician and solving Fermat's Last Theorem.

Cllr Jocelynne Scutt, representing West Chesterton ward on the county council, will be calling on her councillor colleagues to back Labour's budget amendment to restore library spending.

She added: "Euphemisms such as ‘community resilience’ are too often used to cover up the savagery of the cuts imposed by central government, but libraries have always played a vital role in keeping our communities strong.

"They must continue to be considered as an important community resource and not just an easy target for budget cuts. I look to councillors from all parties to support the restoration of the full budget for books, newspapers and periodicals."